U.S Colleges and Undocumented Students Essay

U.S Colleges and Undocumented Students Essay U.S Colleges and Undocumented Students Educational Essay Example U.S Colleges and Undocumented Students Educational Essay Example An undocumented student can be described as a student who moved in the U.S. without proper documentation. A person can also be considered an undocumented student if he or she entered the U.S. legitimately but dishonored the terms of his or her status hence staying without authorization (†An Overview of College-bound Undocumented Students†). Different critics have voiced various views on whether to allow the undocumented students to continue pursuing their studies in the American colleges. Undocumented students in the U.S. are usually experiencing a wide range of difficulties when it comes to transitioning from high school to college (O’Leary). A recent statics has shown that the majority of undocumented students lack an opportunity to proceed with college education after high school. Approximately 5 to 10% are the few lucky persons that usually get an opportunity to enroll and continue with their college studies (O’Leary). The primary reasons for undocumente d students to finish their college education involves state and federal policies, stigmatization and fear, unaffordable college costs, and lack of necessary incentives and support (O’Leary). As much as these are the keystone issues for their limited access to college education, the undocumented students should be supported and allowed to obtain the college education. This paper focuses on the reasons why undocumented students should be welcomed by the U.S. colleges and the consequence this move will have on these students. The paper also contains recommendations for improvement of the present situation. REASONS WHY U.S. COLLEGES SHOULD WELCOME UNDOCUMENTED STUDENTS According to the statistical data it is clear that undocumented students have lived in the U.S. for a reasonably long time. For instance, a recent survey has shown that the undergraduates under analysis have lived in the United States for approximately 14 years (Kohli). This fact shows that the majority of undocumented students live in the U.S. most of their lives. It also acts as a proof that the majority of these students have attained their fundamental education and high school education in the U.S. It could be argued that after an individual spends a reasonable time in certain place, he or she should acquire the education there. Therefore, the issue of deportation becomes futile, because one will have to adapt to a new educational system. According to Kohli, it is due to the realization of this fact that the U.S. President Barrack Obama declared a program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) in 2012. The objective of this program was to protect the undocumented tee nagers from banishment for a limited period of time (Kohli). Therefore, refusal to accept these people for the college education on the basis of their legality can be declared pointless. In addition to this, the U.S. is the only country which is known for the majority of undocumented students living and studying there. Having born and brought up in the U.S. and even having embraced English as their native language, they still have to face technicalities in pursuit of their higher education. This situation is discourteous. The undocumented students with outstanding academic qualifications from high school waste their possibilities whereas their potential could serve significantly for the development of future generations. This aspect if not well reconsidered will make the U.S. suffer from reduced number of intellectuals despite high number of tertiary level institutions. If critically analyzed, undocumented youths with high academic performance usually pose unique talents that can be nurtured for the improvement and development of the U.S. (Kohli). For instance, in her article, Kohli has showcased a productive 19-year-old student who emigrated from Mexico to California as a child. Through the assistance of the undocumented student program, this student received an opportunity to attain education at the University of California where she is currently studying as a sophomore. However, at the institution she encounters a number of challenges including paying college fee. Looking critically at frustrations that the analyzed students face at college for being undocumented, it can be argued that despite her talent she should be supported to achieve the best at the University, because eventually her abilities will be beneficial to the U.S. The case of this student serves as a representation of a wide range of problems that undocumented students face before receiving college education. For example, in most private and public institutions of higher learning, undocumented students are usually considered international students (†An Overview of College-bound Undocumented Students†). Their financial position plays a significant role in their admission to private colleges hence resulting in high competition during admission for the able and unable. Private college fee in the U.S. accounts for approximately $80,000 to $200,000 for four academic years (†An Overview of College-bound Undocumented Students†). A majority of the undocumented students who cannot pay these prices are usually left with no option other than staying at home. Undocumented students are also unentitled to financial scholarships and federal financial grants (Kohli). This policy has deprived many qualified and knowledgeable undocumente d students of a chance to acquire collegiate training that is vital to building the nation (An Overview of College-bound Undocumented Students†). It could be argued that the U.S. colleges should train and tap the talents that might be of value for the future of the nation (Groseclose). HIV/AIDS is one of the escalating menaces in the contemporary society that has been accompanied by stigmatization in different communities. It is a global concern which means that every nation has an obligation to annihilate it. It has been argued that some of undocumented immigrants come to the U.S. in pursuit of HIV/AIDS education and some resources to handle this issue (O’Leary). O’Leary also claims that the immigrants move from their places of origin to escape from stigmatization and discrimination related to the disease. Therefore, undocumented students of this kind should not be denied accessing these services. Perhaps, the knowledge they acquire in the U.S. colleges can be beneficial when they return to their homelands. This education will enable them to participate effectively in combating HIV/AIDS menace hence resulting in its reduction. Therefore, U.S. colleges should not disregard those students in pursuit of knowledge, as this experience would be significant in their homelands. It would be unfair to deprive people of this knowledge and let them perish while the U.S. is in a position to help. In fact, it will only show the unwillingness of the U.S. to participate in the efforts to reduce HIV/AIDS which is a global distress. According to another investigation done on the productivity of the college eligible undocumented students, it has been discovered that these students demonstrate excellent educational achievements. Their leadership contribution and civic commitment arrangements have been found to be higher than that of their U.S. legible-citizens colleagues (Groseclose 33). The report acknowledged that more than 95% participated in extracurricular events and more than 90% took part in voluntary organizations (Groseclose 33). In the co-curricular activities, it has been found that 76% of the undocumented students assumed leadership positions such as club president. The report has also showed that most of the undocumented students exhibited charismatic characteristics such as optimism, psychological resilience, and perseverance in desperate situations (Groseclose 33). For example, despite having a wide range of activities at their respective homes such as taking care of their siblings, most of the stud ents could still allow time for volunteer and co-curricular activities. Nonetheless, despite their glistening personality in the field of academics and volunteer activities and leadership, undocumented students still are unsupported to resume their university education. It is the aspiration of many of the undocumented students to continue studying at the higher educational level. More than 90% of the students express their wish to accomplish Master’s or PHD degree (Groseclose 33). These dreams are always shattered by denial of the opportunity to continue their studies after school. Therefore, parents are also demoralized from aspirations to pursue a better future for their children in the U.S. The Supreme Court of the federal government allowed the undocumented students to be recognized as students but according to immigration policy, they are not recognized as the U.S. citizens. This issue suggests that due to lack of guarantees as the U.S. citizens and blocked admission to higher learning facilities, the American society loses significant scholar and civic endowments. Therefore, this situation makes the U.S. lose its dignity among its allies on the ground that they are practicing discriminative policy. Their system only serves a selected part of the population neglecting the larger part that could be as advantageous as the preferred one (Groseclose). The U.S. federal government should also consider undocumented students for higher learning capacity because they are taxpayers as well as the rest of the population. Alienating them as undocumented immigrants implies that they do not have any affiliation to the country despite their commitment to the prosperity of the U.S. In addition, America will not lose anything by allowing them to study and pursue their dreams. As long as they have adequate resources this would facilitate the enrollment of these students. Everything else will run efficiently because undocumented students possess tenacious optimism that would not subject the nation to adverse economic constraints (Perez). EFFECTS OF WELCOMING THE UNDOCUMENTED STUDENTS IN THE U.S. COLLEGES Tolerating access to higher education for the undocumented students is vital because the conduits to the authorization of immigration reforms are meticulously associated with educational acquisition. The immigration bills that were proposed, e.g. the Modernization Immigration Act and the Border Security and Economic Opportunity, needed legalization of those undocumented immigrants who have attained at least two years of collegiate education (Perez). Therefore, allowing undocumented students to achieve higher education will give them opportunities to express their freedom (Perez). On the other hand, the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act advocates for provisional eternal residence for the teenage migrants (Perez). It requires that the immigrants should attain at least four-year higher education. Allowing undocumented students to acquire this training will be paramount to confirm that the greater percentage of these students qualify to contribute to the forthcoming immigration reform (Perez). It has been pointed out that fear of revealing legal status is common among the undocumented students even when they are allowed to do so (Perez). This aspect is due to the unsupportive college environment that subjects them to suffer from inferiority complex. Lack of legal status usually keeps them depressed for the offered services. Removing the barriers to access to higher education will lead to the reduction of such issues (Kim and Diaz). Therefore, undocumented students who only recognize the U.S. as their country will even work harder for the prosperity of their nation. Most of the undocumented students come from poverty stricken families. Raising the required fee to acquire university education is almost impossible to the majority. If they are given equal opportunities to obtain higher education, they will have better chances to get professional jobs that would aid in poverty reduction among these individuals. It is an obligation of the career counselors to guide the students in planning the next phase of their education while in high school. Perez reports that most of the undocumented students are usually unaware of their legal status in the U.S. until they complete their secondary education. Removing the barrier to attain higher education will ease a smooth transition of the undocumented students from high school to college. In addition to this debate, some proponents have acknowledged that tuition policies propagate the significance of cultural assimilation (Groseclose 15). They argue that since undocumented students have lived in the U.S. for a long period, they are culturally assimilated. They have even deserted their national heritage because their abilities are measured by their proficiency in English. Making higher education accessible to these students will enhance further assimilation and promote devotion to the U.S. status quo (Groseclose 15). Providing access to collegiate education will also enhance patriotism among undocumented students. Having in mind that they can acquire higher education without troubles will make them rejuvenate their thwarted dreams of helping their families. Most of the undocumented immigrants are committed to voluntary service for the benefit of the U.S. (Groseclose 33). Allowing them to get post-secondary education will make them be more patriotic to their states and the entire nation. It is indeed clear that undocumented students face enormous difficulties in order to obtain higher education. The barriers put in place by federal policies and unwelcoming attitude by the campus administration have seen many undocumented students lose their stimulation. Executing some reforms to these policies at post-secondary, federal, and state level will give these students the ability to pursue higher education without much trouble. Therefore, the following recommendation will be helpful for championing this objective. Accessibility to Federal Education Benefits Minus Interruption The forthcoming immigration reforms should annihilate all the bans that inhibit undocumented students from accessing education benefits such as student loans, Pell grants, and work-study programs. These benefits constitute a greater percentage of the undocumented students’ abilities to fund their post-secondary education (Perez). The idea of lifting ban to access work study will make these students earn some pocket money while building the nation. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the stakeholders to ensure that all the students have equal chances to access this service. Extension of Deferred Action for Parental Accountability to Parents of DACA Recipients It is the responsibility of the administration to make certain that the parents of DACA beneficiaries are also allowed to access DAPA. This aspect will increase the number of undocumented students who qualify for work authorization and terminate the risk of banishment (Perez 29). It will also guarantee them financial security for acquiring higher education. Welcoming Attitude at Institutions of Higher Learning The stakeholders at colleges and universities should be urged to enhance conducive campus environment and address the requirements of undocumented students appropriately. These institutions should also partner with high schools to ensure that they provide the students with relevant information concerning the attainment of higher education. These colleges and universities should also organize individual offices that would be responsible for addressing financial issues of undocumented students (Perez). The issue of acquisition of higher education for undocumented students is a crucial matter that the U.S. should address. This aspect has been neglected by various stakeholders of higher learning though it plays a significant role in the maintenance of intellectual population in the U.S. Therefore, the issue of embracing undocumented students to acquire quality training will be more advantageous to the U.S. regardless of their legal status. Additionally, alienating undocumented students from gaining higher learning training makes the state lose significant talents. As a result, the remarkable academic excellence of these students is left to go untapped for the betterment of the country. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the President Obama’s government and the future governments to reconsider the immigration reforms for the benefit of the U.S. and undocumented students.

College Entrance Essay Outline

College Entrance Essay Outline College Entrance Essay Outline If you are planning to enter college, a college entrance essay is probably something that disturbs you most of all. It is rather natural since your essay will influence much the admission committees decision on whether to accept or reject you. That is why planning properly your admission essay is your primary purpose. So, in this article you will find the guidelines that will help you produce an effective English essay writing outline. Before you start working out your college entrance essay outline, we advise you brainstorm a bit. Ask yourself the following questions that will help you get an idea of what components to include into your college entrance critical essay outline: Why do you prefer this very college to other academic institutions? What career goals do you have for the future? What plan do you have for realization of your goals? What area would you like to specialize in? Why do you think you will be successful at college? Read also: After that, you are ready to pass to your college entrance essay outline. Here are the guidelines that will help you work out an effective college entrance essay outline, thus, make a steady foundation for your essay: Take a big poster and write down your major purpose. It is up to you how to formulate it, as the college entrance essay outline is a draft only that serves you as a compass showing the direction to move by. For instance, you may write something like I want to enter this college because. There is certainly something that influenced your decision to enter this college. So, the first point of your college entrance essay outline is all about the evaluation of the significant experience, achievement, or even a person who helped you make the decision. The next item of your college entrance essay is all about the discussion of your personal, local, and international concern that is very important to you. Think of the concern that might reveal your character but not the one all people care about. Make notes. Finally, in your college entrance essay outline, make notes on the range of your academic interests. How could you contribute to the richness of the college campus community? Outline the range of your abilities and personal perspectives the admission committee might find rather interesting. When making the college entrance essay outline, you are a creator, and whether your creature will become your assistant or wrecker depends on you. If you are in need of well-written college admission essay, do not hesitate to order custom admission essay writing service at our site! We know how to write winning admission essays! Related posts: Essay Writing Need Help Writing a Paper College Term Paper Persuasive Research Paper Term Paper Editing

Strategic and Financial Decision-making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Strategic and Financial Decision-making - Essay Example The brokers of the stock exchanges or any qualified individual can play the role of the analysts. They try to identify the trends by analyzing the past behaviour of the stock and other market important information. The statistical tools such as beta, alpha, regression, time series etc are popular among the analysts. London Stock exchange (LSE) is the prominent exchange in UK and FTSE 100 is a popular index of LSE followed by most of the investors and analysts. Beta of a stock measures the volatility of that particular stock with the market movement. In this report the betas of two FTSE 100 companies will be calculated using covariance and variance, and using the linear regression model. The two chosen companies are Experian (EXPN) and Sainsbury(J) (SBRY). EXPN is one of the leading companies in global information services. It provides data analytical tools and other systems that help an organisation to take proper decisions (Experian, Plc. n.d.). Organisations like banks, government departments or retailers etc are the clients of EXPN. SBRY is UK’s third largest chain of supermarket and convenience store engaged in retail marketing of daily household products like grocery, garments etc. â€Å"Sainsburys Supermarkets is UKs longest standing major food retailing chain, having opened its f irst store in 1869, presently consisting a chain of 525 supermarkets and 303 convenience stores – and Sainsburys Bank† (J Sainsbury Plc. 2010). SBRY and EXPN, both the companies were listed in the LSE on July 11, 1975 and on October 26, 2006 respectively and the stocks of these companies are currently traded at the rate  £323.78 and  £600 respectively (London Stock Exchange. 2010). In order to calculate the betas of both the companies, the historical stock prices are required. The beta will be calculated using the covariance of stock return and market return relative to the variance of market return. The second method uses linear

Why Do I Want to Be a Professional Counselor - Personal Goals Assignment

Why Do I Want to Be a Professional Counselor - Personal Goals - Assignment Example I currently work as a restaurant server ad a cheer coach. I love my jobs as they give me a chance to work with different kinds of people so I do not want to give them up when I go on my internship course. I need a total of 250 hours to complete the pre-practicum and practicum requirements of my program. I have informed my employers about my program. Once I have my schedule at the internship site(s), my two employers and I will work out a schedule so I can meet my practicum hours and still satisfy my obligation to them. I am hoping my bachelor’s degree, master’s degrees and current job experiences will help me be an effective youth counselor after graduation. I have already seen several schools advertising for intern counselors on the Internet. I would be paid hourly so this could help my finances. I need to start planning for my practicum as early as possible. Especially in my situation as a working student, I should be able to know early how I will be managing my time to fulfil my workload and practicum schedule. Filing for the practicum course should be done 16 weeks prior to the start of the practicum. Although I can specify a definite practicum site after filing, I would still prefer planning ahead. I was able to get my bachelor’s degree four years after high school so I would like to finish my master’s degree without delay as well. Together with time management, I need to plan early for the cost as well. Liability insurance, a requirement to start the practicum course costs a minimum coverage of $1,000.00 per claim and $3,000.00 aggregate. There is also the cost of the licensure exams. Aside from passing my school tests, I need to take and pass a licensure exam from the National Board of Certified Counselors or Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certific ation. To register for the test, I need to submit a complete application packet and the $250 fee. Once approved for a license, I need to pay either a $100 or $250 license issuance fee. Getting my license will make me eligible to work as a professional counselor. This is why meeting the state requirements is very important.  

Online Direct Competition Essay Example for Free

Online Direct Competition Essay The online airline ticket market is rife with cut-throat competition from a number of sources, including travel agencies, wholesalers and Internet travel agents such as Microsofts Expedia.com and CNNs BizTravel.com.  US-Airlines set competition for Priceline.com Six of the key US-Aircarriers have agreed to step up to the competition set by Priceline.com in the segment of consumer-self-pricing. United Airlines, American Airlines, Northwest, Continental, America West and US Airways will be selling their free allotments under www. hotwire.com.  Similar to Priceline.com, travellers will be quoting the rate at which they wish to travel and according to availability can be granted their requested price.  Increasing Competition  Priceline.com, which has patented several of its business models, faces increasing competition on multiple fronts. While companies like Budget Rent A Car have licensed one of priceline.coms business models, Microsoft has launched a name-your-price service for hotel rooms on its Expedia site. Priceline.com has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft.  In addition to worrying about protecting its business model, the consolidation of the online travel market could lead to increased competition for priceline.com. The upcoming merger of Preview Travel and Travelocity.com will create an online travel powerhouse, whose allies include America Online and Yahoo!. Both industry giants will have a stake in the new venture.  Intended as a comeback directed at its competitors, Priceline.com is focusing upon licensing its business models to other companies in other industries. For example, Alliance Mortgage will license the name-your-price business model and team up with priceline.com to launch an online mortgage service known as PricelineMortgage. The chart below shows the sites that customers visit both before and after visiting Priceline.com  All sorts of competing sites figure in the before and after surfing list above. These range from specific airline websites like www.delta.com to competing full-service travel sites like www.orbitz.com and www.expedia.com. A competitive site to note is www.hotwire.com as it figures prominently in both lists and is a site that drives customers to Priceline.com. Although it is compelling to see how competitors figure in the pre and post site visit categories, it is even more interesting to look at a typical Path that visitors take through Priceline.coms site. This path includes visits to off-site destinations. The figure below shows a typical path a visitor takes through the site and the sites they visit that are off-site  According to this path analysis, a visitor visits priceline.com, leaves the site and returns to the site to either continue surfing or make a purchase. Note the abundance of competing sites that visitors travel to: www.skyauction.com, www.expedia.com, www.orbitz.com, www.hotwire.com and also to banks perhaps to verify their account balances before booking their vacation. Legal issues: With the Name Your Own Price services, priceline.com and pricelinemortgage are the leaders in the field of electronic commerce and true innovators in the way people buy the things they need. They are very adamant about keeping customers privacy online. This is represented in their clearly displayed privacy policy and privacy promise.5 The information collected and stored by Priceline.com includes names, addresses, credit card numbers and other personally-identifying information of customers of the Site who make purchase requests. This information is saved in a secure environment and is kept in records to make it easier for customers to use the services on return visits. Priceline.com use cookies technology. Cookies are small bits of code, usually stored on a users computer hard drive, which enable a Web site to personalize itself for each user. They use cookies to reduce the time it takes for customers to submit purchase requests. No third party has access to the information they collect this way. Priceline.com also have a disable cookies button which will turn them off. Information collected by priceline.com or pricelinemortgage is stored in a single, secure database, accessible only by priceline.com and pricelinemortgage. Names, addresss, credit card numbers or any other personally-identifying information are not revealed to any participating seller, manufacturer, retailer, or sponsor of priceline.com. These are collectively referred to as Providers, unless a customer affirmatively respond to the Providers offer and/or the Provider agrees to provide the product or service the customer requested at a specified price.  From time to time, priceline.com or pricelinemortgage also contact customers to request feedback on their experience using the Site, to assist Priceline in improving the Site, or to offer special savings or promotions to customers. Priceline.com also offer an opt-out option on receiving these notices. Customers are also able to access and change any personal information kept by Priceline. To protect customers privacy and security, they verify your identity before granting access or making changes to your personally-identifying information. If you have registered your profile on any of the services available on their Site from priceline.com or pricelinemortgage, your e-mail address and password are required in order to access your profile information. Trade marks A trademark includes any word, name, symbol, or device, or any combination, used, or intended to be used, in commerce to identify and distinguish the goods of one manufacturer or seller from goods manufactured or sold by others, and to indicate the source of the goods. In short, a trademark is a brand name.  Pricelines patent covers its marketing system as embodied in a computer. The claims, which define what the patent covers, recite a method for using a computer to facilitate a transaction between a buyer and seller. The buyer inputs a conditional purchase offer into the computer and a payment identifier, such as a credit card number. The computer outputs the purchase offer to sellers. A seller can then input an acceptance, at which time the payment is made using the payment identifier. There are also claims for an apparatus that can perform the same functions. At a first pass, it appears that much of electronic commerce could fit within Pricelines patent. If so, Priceline could extract a royalty for use of its patent on all commerce over the Internet or over any other computer system including proprietary systems. This patent could severely limit the use of electronic commerce.  Priceline (www.priceline.com) filed its application in 1996, as electronic commerce was just starting to grow. Now, when electronic commerce is more firmly entrenched, the patent is granted, and that award threatens to thwart the growth of electronic commerce.  There are many issues yet to be explored with respect to Pricelines patent. To appreciate them, it helps to understand how the Patent Office could issue a patent on a system that is little more than business relationships communicated using a computer. Until recently such a patent would have been rejected. Priceline.com has had a hard time defending itself within this type of market against possible threats of infringement on there patents or trademarks.  An example of this is major dot-com, Pannell-Christ Inc., an Indiana-based provider of consulting and training services to facing accusations of hijacking intellectual property. Sued by Priceline.com the firm that provides name your own price services for hotels, car-hire and airline tickets. According to the, Pannell-Christ is disputing Pricelines use of the phrases Name Your Price and Name Your Own Price.  Pannell-Christ maintains it used the Name Your Price! trademark as far back as 1997. However, the company had not filed for a trademark on the phrase until several months after priceline.com had begun using the slogan in 1998. The U.S. Trademark Office granted Pannell-Christ federal registration of the mark on February 1, 2000.

Ts Eliot Mood And Theme :: essays research papers

T.S. Eliot -mood and theme WITH REFERENCE TO THE LOVE SONG OF J. ALFRED PRUFROCK AND PREDULES. DISCUSS HOW T.S. ELIOT CONVEYS MOOD AND THEMES. Both Prufrock and Preludes are based in the same rootless world of sordid tedium. In Prufrock Eliot is conveying a theme a strong theme and is based heavily in the Persona of Prufrock himself. Preludes is a poem of changing moods, some subtle, some profound but this time conveyed primarily through diction and repetition. One theme of Eliot's, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, is the exposure of the modern individual's inability and refusal to address inadequacies that he sees in both him and his society. Two ways Eliot conveys his theme is through the persona of Prufrock and repetition . One method used by Eliot to expose this theme is his use of the persona of J Alfred Prufrock. Prufrock is in part a shallow conformist, 41 ....My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin, 42 My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin- 43 (They will say: 'But how his arms and legs are thin!')...... However, almost tragically, Eliot has Prufrock aware of the shallowness of the society to which he conforms. 26 There will be time, there will be time 27 To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet. Prufrock observes his society's ability to totally disregard any question of substance, that is, the 'overwhelming'; questions. Yet despite his observations Prufrock is not prepared to confront his society, more importantly, himself. In deeper tragedy Prufrock is defeated by his knowledge of his inadequacies and states quite sincerely, 'And in short, I was afraid'; Two of the minor themes of 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' concern the frustrations felt by the individual towards their society. Specifically the individuals insignificance in their society and the individuals inability to express themselves and be understood as an individual within that society. Repetition plays a crucial role in conveying the theme of insignificance. The r epetition of, 'They will say:..';, conveys Prufrock's feeling of insignificance and reveal a man totally absorbed in the judgments of others and not at all concerned with his worth as an individual. Eliot's repetition of 'Do I dare?'; within the sixth stanza emphasises Prufrock's feeling of insignificance. 'Do I dare/ Disturb the universe?'; Despite the superficial judgments his society passes on him, Prufrock is still hesitant in speaking out against their empty lives.

Difference Between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews in Modern Times Essay

For the most part, modern Jewish history deals with the political, social and economic advancements achieved by the Ashkenazi communities in Europe, America, and later — Palestine. Because of it’s relatively small size and involvement in the affairs of â€Å"civilized† countries of Europe and America, the Sephardi branch of Judaism is rerely dealt with in the context of modern Jewish history. Their development is however, though not as influential upon the flow of the â€Å"mainstream† history as that of the Ashkenazi jewry, is nevertheless an area of interest to anyone undertaking a serious study of Jewish history. The theological difference between the two movements, the Sefardi and the Ashekenazi, lies in the traditional laws more than in written ones. Both take an Orthodoxal approach to the written law of the Torah, and the differences in its interpretation are subtle enough to be dismissed. However the traditions acquired , and at times given the power of laws, in the course of the long centuries of diaspora differ considerably from one branch of Judaism to another. Just as the worldwide language of the Ashekenazim, Yiddish, is a mixture of Hebrew with German, the common language used by the Sephardim Ladino, still in use in some parts of the world, is a dialect formed by combining Hebrew with Spanish. The Sephardim who have historically been more involved into the lives of the gentile societies where they settled don’t have as strict a set of observances as do the Ashkenazis who have been contained in closed ghettos up until two centuries ago. The official doctrine of the Sephardis does not for example prohibit polygomy, whereas it hasn’t been allowed in the Ashkenazi law since Middle Ages. Although the Ashkenazi traditions are somewhat stricter than those of the Sephardim, a greater percentage of Ashkenazi Jews have over the past century and a half stopped observing these traditions, becoming either â€Å"secular Jews†, atheists, like the American Freethinkers, or simply converting. An even greater part have chosen to follow only a part of the traditional, or â€Å"oral†, laws, forming widely popular Reform and Conservative movements. This phenomenon, if present within the Sephardic community exists on such a small scale that it can be discounted. The reason for this difference in the adherence of the tradition is the way in which the tradition itself was first put into effect. In the case of the Ashkenazi Jews the traditions have been instated by the long centuries of enforced separation, and when the barriers were let down, the communities that were held together by pressure from the outside started to degenerate. With the walls of the ghetto gone, but full emancipation not yet granted, many believed that if they had integrated themselves into the gentile societies, they would gain acceptance. Secular education replaced religion, rather than complementing it. This however was not the case with Sephardim, whose less strict traditions were developed in the environment of toleration. While the Ashkenazi Jews were restricted to the ghettos of Europe, held at bay by the Catholic church, the Sephardim of Middle East, North Africa and Ottoman Empire were living as â€Å"dhimmies†, or â€Å"people of the pact†, and though not fully equal with their Muslim hosts, were to some extent intregrated into their societies. For this reason, the traditional laws of the Sephardim are less demanding, but more enduring. Unlike the Ashkenazi population that has over a century of immigration spread itself all over the world, The Sephardic communities tend to concentrate mostly around a few areas. Today most of the Sephardic Jews reside within Israel, amost other Middle-Eastern communities having been reduced to virtual nonexistance by the migration of Jews out of Arabic countries after the creation of Israel. A substantial community is still maintained in Turkey, where historically Jews have received good treatment. Of the Western countries, the only one where the population of Sephardic Jews is comparable to that of the Ashekenazis is France, where a considerable number of Jews have resided since the Middle Ages. While Sephardi Jews were the first people of Jewish faith to arrive in the US, and their number in this country is still quite large, they are but a drop in the bucket when compared to the overall number of Jews currently residing in America today. The Spehardic Jews have historically lived in the areas more or less tolerant of Judaism. They therefore had more of an opportunity to integrate themselves into the host societies than did their Ashkenazi counterparts living in the countries where Jewish communities were forcebly segregated from the rest. Thus they never really formed separate self-governed units, and the impact made upon the countries of their residence can be traced only through the outstanding Jewish personalities that had effect on the history of those states, and not actions taken by the community as a whole. Whereas in the history of American Jews one may encounter occurrences of political decisions being influenced by the pressure of Jews as a communal force, the history of Middle-Eastern countries is only able to offer examples of brilliant Jewish individuals, but rarely actions taken by the whole communities. The Sephardis (the word itself comes from a Hebrew word for Spain) first came to Europe in the early middle ages across the Straight of Gibraltar to the Iberian peninsula, following the wave of muslim conquerors, into whose society they were at the time well integrated. With the slow reconquest of the peninsula by the Christians a number of the Jews stayed on the land, at times serving as middlemen in the ongoing trade between the two sides of the conflict. Prospering from such lucrative practices, the Sephardic community of the newly created Spain grew and gained economic power. With the final expulsion of the external â€Å"heretics†, the Spanish, devoted Catholics have turned within in their quest for the expulsion of the unfaithful, and around 1492 a decree had forced the Jews of Spain to convert or leave country. While some Jews of Spain have chosen to convert rather than face relocation and possibly relinquish their economic position, (though some of those continued practicing Judaism in secrecy) many of them have migrated to the Ottoman empire, where the Sultan Bayazid II offered them safe haven. In later years as the Ottoman rulers continued the policy of toleration, the Sephardic community of Turkey grew to considerable numbers. Other members of the Spanish Jewry migrated to nearby Portugal from where they were promptly expelled in 1496. From here, some people migrated North to France, where they were tolerated in the southern provinces, and Netherlands. Others went eastward to the Ottoman Empire and Middle East. The Sephardic community of France had maintained a realtively constant population, a fact that allowed it to exist in obscurity, and thus continue to be tolerated. The people who settled in the Netherlands, by this time a country of religious tolerance, had enjoyed for a period of time the equality unparalleled at this point anywhere in the Western world. The main flux of Sephardi immigrants took almost a century incoming to the Netherlands, finally reaching that country around 1590. When half a century later Netherlands began active trade with the South America, Jews were greatly involved because they could speak Dutch and were literate enough to keep records of the trade. They gained a great deal economically through this lucrartive practice, and it was by the way of this trade that first Sephardic Jews have arrived in the Americas. The Ottoman empire, which in its golden age spanned from North Africa to the Balcans, had attracted Jewish immigration from as early as the 1300’s. The Sultans’ sympathy to the Jews went so far that in 1556, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent had requested from the Pope Paul IV the release of the Ancona Marranos which he declared Ottoman citizens. Over the years, Jews exiled from Hungary, France, Sicily and Bohemia came to the Ottoman empire in search of home, and they found it. A letter sent by Rabbi Yitzhak Sarfati (from Edirne) to Jewish communities in Europe â€Å"invited his coreligionists to leave the torments they were enduring in Christiandom and to seek safety and prosperity in Turkey. † (1) Three centuries after the expulsion of Jews from Spain, the Ottoman cities of Istanbul, Izmud, Safed and Salonica became centers of Sephardic prosperity that was compairable to the period of muslim domination of Spain. While there aren’t many records of Jews as a community taking historically important actions in the course of their stay in the Ottoman Empire, many individuals worthy of notice are encountered in history. The first printing press in the Empire was established in 1493 by David and Samuel ibn Nahmias, only a year after their exile from Spain. A number of Jews had been diplomats for the Sultan (one of them, Salamon ben Nathan Eskenazi had established first contact with the British Empire), court physicians and otherwise influential people. The Zionist movement was met with drastically different reactions by the two movements. Among the by now â€Å"enlightened† Ashkenazim, where many have come to consider their states objects of primary alligiance, the idea of a return to Palestine was met with suspicions. Some of the people were genuinely afraid that if they acted in support of a Jewish homeland, their loyalties to the countries of their residence would be questioned, and the progress made toward emancipation that had taken long centuries to achieve would be destroyed in a single blow. Among the Sephardim, the ideas of Zionism were met with much greater enthusiasm. (3) The Jews of Middle East, whose religious convictions were at that time much better preserved, had embraced the idea of return to the land of their forefathers. The traditions ran strong among them, and the young generations did not feel resentfull for being forced to obey laws that they felt were outdated. Modernization for European Jews meant catching up with the secular education studies of their hosts, this word hoever, took a totally different meaning when applied to the Jews of Middle-East and Asia, areas to which modernization came later, and which at that point were far behind the technological progress made in the countries of the West. Therefore, while the Jews of Europe had to battle for their equality in a society the education level of which was arguably supperior to that of their own, the Jews of Middle-East had to modernize together with their host nations, and sometimes even ahead of them. The speed of the progress of Middle-Eastern Jews was enhanced by their Western-European counterparts who have by this time established for themselves not only political equality, but also economic prosperity in their adopted homelands. These well-to-do Jews who have for the most part abandoned some or all of their traditions, and have justly considered themselves to be enlightened, wished to bring this enlightenment in the way of Europeanisation to the Jews living outside of the â€Å"civilized† world. (2) The educational institutions created by the Alliance Israelite Universelle have had such great impact on the education of the Jews of the then-decaying Ottoman Empire, that even today, a considerable part of older generation Turkish Jews think of French as their primary means of communication. In Israel the farming communities founded in the late 1800’s with the funding of rich European Jewish families as a part of the project to re-settle Palestine, have now grown to become well established businesses. Currently the Israeli Jews represent the only substantial Jewish community left in the Middle East. The surrounding countries, where up until the 1940’s many Jews coexisted with Muslim majorities, have over the course of the past half-century lost most of their Jewish population to immigration due to racial and ethnic tensions brought about by the Arab-Israeli conflicts. In fact, the governments of states such as Syria have after the creation of Israel considered the Jews living on their territories to be hostages in this confrontation, and have treated them accordingly. The immigrants from the Arab states being predominantly Sephardic, Israel, a once Ashekenazi dominated country, now has an about even division between the two movements. With their increasing number, the Sephardi influence is also growing in the Israeli legislature, and in the last few years a Sephardi party Sha’as has gained substantial power within the Knesset, Israel’s governing body. The state of Israel is unique in that it is the first country in over two thousand years where Jews have been given the right of self-rule. This raises problems that the Jews in other times, and even the Jews outside of Israel today do not have to deal with. Throughout Israel’s brief history, a debate as to the extent to which the secular laws should follow the religious doctrine of Judaism had been an ongoing one. Such debates are naturally meaningless in the rest of the world, where the Jews are to follow the laws of the land. The different historical background of the two movements of Judaism has created a noticeable gap in their culture, their traditional laws and their adherence of those laws. It has shaped the manner of their development and the final result of it. The history itself was shaped by the environment in which the exiled Jews found themselves, and the attitude of the people who surrounded them. This attitude was in turn based around their religious doctrine. (1) Bernard Lewis, â€Å"The Jews of Islam† (2) Harvey Goldberg, â€Å"Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewries†, introductoin p15 (3) Norman Stillman, â€Å"Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewries† Essay 1, â€Å"Middle-Eastern and North African Jewries† p67 1996, Lev Epshteyn, SUNY Binghamton.

Analysis of First Love by John Clare

First love is a poem, which encapsulates the experience the poet has falling in love for the first time. It is rejoicing the love he attained for a woman named Mary Joyce however there is sadness and a feeling of dissatisfaction hovering in the background. This feeling exists, as the love was unrequited. The poem has an underlying tone of innocence and flurry of emotions as it is the poets very first attempt at love exhibiting his feelings for Mary. The opening of the first stanza only shows how sudden and unexpected the feeling was as he was never ‘struck before that hour’. This is followed my sibilance alliteration ‘ so sudden and so sweet’ further emphasizing on the shock and bewilderment of the overwhelming feeling confirming it is a new experience. He uses his ‘heart’ as a symbol that she has ‘stolen’ completely ‘away’ however unknowingly. The paragraph continues to describe how he physically felt ill as his ‘face turned pale a deadly pale’. Generally when a person falls in love the first instinct is that the ‘blood [is] rushed‘ to the face, which occurs as a latter reaction. This could be because he probably already sensed that the love could not be returned as he didn’t say anything to her instead he hoped that his eyes would convey the message ‘words from my eyes did start’. He never came close to even touching or talking to her however the line ‘all seemed to turn to clay’ conveys the strong affection he attained for her. He also shows how the woman is in control of their (hallucinated) relationship as she could mould and re-mould him as per her wish. In the second stanza he goes on to describe more of his emotions brought forward by this interaction. He makes it quite visual for us of how the love has its affect on him and how he flushes with embarrassment so much that for a moment he feels blind. The physical impact of love relates the experience of love and loss. His life, his emotions were all now just focused on this one girl so much so that it ‘seemed midnight [to him] at noonday. This stanza ends on a very sad but dramatic note when he says that ‘blood burnt around my heart’ because he was in terrible pain emotionally as well as physically. The pace of the poem is however slows down in the last stanza. The poet seems depressed that the love he encompasses for Mary will never be fulfilled. The stanza begins with the poet asking rhetorical questions. In the first question he refers to flowers again like in the first stanza when he says ‘her face bloomed like a sweet flower’ it shows how innocent the love is and as they were never in physical contact even virginity. Also Clare admits that him and Mary could never be together as shown forth by the comparison of ‘flower’ and ‘winter’. According to him it will be as hard for their relationship to bloom as it would be for a flower in winter and slowly it will wilt and die. The second question shows his desperate depression. It clearly implies love as cold, deceitful and to be treated with caution. But he himself dove into it and continually obsesses about her. Love has a very strong physical impact within his body. These new feeling seem to have shaken him with surprise. The line ‘my heart has left its dwelling place’ exhibits the sense of loneliness and desertion that he feels. It includes rhetorical questions such as â€Å"are flowers the winters choice? † and I†is love;s bed always snow? † the reference to flowers takes us back to the simile in the beginning of the poem where the blooming of her face is compared to that of a flower suggestive of the blossoming of his love for her . it is in sharp contrast to the second reference of the flower which can only wilt and die in winter rather than blossom suggesting the lack of any possibility of the two coming together. Also read: In Exile Poem Analysis Arthur Nortje He refers to her face blooming like a sweet flower signifying the blossoming of his love which contrasts with the second reference to the flowers which is compared to winter suggests the lack of any possibility of them coming together just as the flower. the second question shows his desparate depression implying that love is cold deceitful and to be treated with caution . having drowned him in her live now it seems impossible for him to come out of it as my heart has left its dwelling place there is a sense of loneliness and the desertion that lurks towards the end of the poem making the reader to almost empathize with the poet. We are made to go through the experience and as the poem uses a diary form, it almost appears as if the poet is pouring his heart onto the paper. This is what makes the poem stand out as one can really suffer with him. He uses similes ‘her face bloomed like a sweet flower’, metaphors ‘my life has turned into clay’, alliterations such as ‘so sudden so sweet’ and realistic and effective images to make that possible. The rhyming structure of the poem is AB-AB-CD-CD. In each paragraph his feelings keep developing and we are made to witness this experience. The realistic images the poem has, helps the reader to understand the physical effects of being in love. The love he has was the sweetest, noblest and deepest love he has witnessed in his entire life so much so that it later drove him to insanity. Therefore more than first love I would consider it to be his true love. I feel as if the poet has been successful in conveying the impact of his emotions throughout this poem.

How To Say Both in Spanish

How To Say Both in Spanish There are various ways of expressing the idea of both in Spanish. Translating Both Meaning Too Most of the time, both simply means two and functions as an adjective or pronoun. In such cases, you can translate both as either ambos (ambas in the feminine) or los dos (las dos in the feminine). The two terms are almost interchangeable; ambos is somewhat more formal. Here are some examples: Los dos se abrazaron. (Both hugged each other.)Las dos cartas escritas desde Calabria reflejan la misma bondad. (Both letters written from Calabria reflect the same kindness.)A los dos nos duele la cabeza si tenemos hambre. (Both of us have a headache if were hungry.)Los dos là ­deres de Al Qaeda ms buscados en Irak murieron durante una operacià ³n militar. (Both of the most-wanted leaders of Al-Qaida in Iraq died during a military operation.)Ambos creyeron poder demostrar la existencia de Dios. (Both believed they could demonstrate the existence of God.)Me gustarà ­a mucho leer ambos libros. (I would very much like to read both books.)Ambas dijeron que no volvern nunca ms al Perà º tras esta amarga experiencia. (Both said they would never return to Peru after this bitter experience.)Ambas opciones son buenas, y a veces no prefiero ninguno. (Both options are good, and sometimes I dont prefer either one.) Note that in each of the above examples, ambos or los dos also could have been translated as two or the two. Translating the Emphatic Both There are many cases where both isnt the equivalent of two, usually when it is used for emphasis. Theres no one set way to express the concept; you need to look at the sentence to determine the context and develop a translation in that way. Here are some examples; note that the translations given arent the only ones possible: El aprendizaje es una asociacà ­Ãƒ ³n en el cual tanto el maestro como el estudiante juegan un papel dinmico.  (Learning is a partnership in which both the teacher and the student play a dynamic role.  Here, both adds emphasis, indicating that the teacher, as well as the student, play a role.)Queremos comprar una casa grande y adems barata. (We want to buy a house that is both big and cheap. The use of both suggests that the two qualities normally dont go together and thus adds emphasis. Here, adems, which usually means also, fulfills a similar function.)Pablo y Raà ºl tienen sendos hematomas que estn siendo tratados. (Pablo and Raà ºl both have bruises that are being treated. Both is used here to clarify that each of the victims, not just one of them, is bruised. Sendos is an always-plural adjective often translated as respective or his or her own and is used here to provide a similar meaning. Sendos or sendas can also refer to more than two.)Hubo errores de uno y otro lado e n el conflicto. (There were errors on both sides of the conflict. Both is used to emphasize the existence of a contrast, which uno y otro also does.) No es posible perder peso y comer lo que te gusta al mismo tiempo. (It isnt possible to both lose weight and eat everything you want. Both here suggest that two actions are being done simultaneously. Al mismo tiempo means at the same time.) Translating Common Phrases With Both At least English phrases or idioms with both have Spanish equivalents. Both sides, when referring to opposing sides of an argument or position, can be translated idiomatically with las dos campanas, which means literally both bells. Siempre oigo las dos campanas antes de hacer un juicio. (I always listen to both sides before making a judgment.)Creo que nuestros servidores pà ºblicos no escuchan las dos campanas. (I believe our public servants arent listening to both sides.) The best of both worlds can be translated literally as lo mejor de dos mundos or loosely as lo mejor de cada casa (literally, the best of each house). Este vehà ­culo ofrece lo mejor de dos mundos, la deportividad de un coupà © y la espaciosidad de un SUV. (This vehicle offers the best of both worlds, the sportiness of a coupe and the space of an SUV.)Brasil es in paà ­s multicultural que tiene lo mejor de cada casa. (Brazil is a multicultural country that has the best of both worlds.

Biography of Konrad Zuse, Inventor of Modern Computers

Biography of Konrad Zuse, Inventor of Modern Computers Konrad Zuse (June 22, 1910–December 18, 1995) earned the semi-official title of inventor of the modern computer for his series of automatic calculators, which he invented to help with his lengthy engineering calculations. Zuse  modestly dismissed the title, though, praising the inventions of his contemporaries and successors as being equally- if not more- important than his own. Fast Facts: Konrad Zuse Known For: Inventor of the first electronic, fully programmable digital computers, and a programming languageBorn: June 22, 1910 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, GermanyParents: Emil Wilhelm Albert Zuse and Maria Crohn ZuseDied: December 18, 1995 in Hà ¼nfeld (near Fulda), GermanySpouse: Gisela Ruth BrandesChildren: Horst, Klaus Peter, Monika, Hannelore Birgit, and Friedrich Zuse Early Life Konrad Zuse was born on June 22, 1910, in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Germany, and was the second of the two children of the Prussian civil servant and postal officer Emil Wilhelm Albert Zuse and his wife Maria Crohn Zuse. Konrads sister was named Lieselotte. He attended a series of grammar schools and briefly considered a career in art, but he eventually enrolled at the  Technical College (Technischen Hochschule) in Berlin-Charlottenburg, graduating with a degree in civil engineering in 1935. After graduation, he started work as a design engineer at the Henschel Flugzeugwerke (Henschel aircraft factory) in Berlin-Schà ¶nefeld. He resigned a year later after deciding to devote his life entirely to the construction of a computer, work that he pursued relentlessly between 1936 and 1964. The Z1 Calculator   One of the most difficult aspects of performing large calculations with slide rules or mechanical adding machines is keeping track of all the intermediate results and using them in their proper place during the later steps of the calculation. Zuse wanted to overcome that difficulty.  He realized that an automatic calculator would require three basic elements: a control, a memory, and a calculator for the arithmetic. Zuse made a mechanical calculator called the Z1 in 1936. This was the first binary computer. He used it to explore several groundbreaking technologies in calculator development: floating-point arithmetic, high-capacity memory, and modules or relays operating on the yes/no principle.   Electronic, Fully Programmable Digital Computers Zuses ideas were not fully implemented in the Z1  but they succeeded more with each Z prototype. Zuse completed the Z2,  the first fully functioning electro-mechanical computer in 1939,  and the Z3 in 1941. The Z3 used recycled materials donated by fellow university staff and students. It was the worlds first electronic, fully programmable digital computer based on a binary floating-point number and a  switching system. Zuse used old movie film to store his programs and data for the Z3 instead of paper tape or punched cards. Paper was in short supply in Germany during the war. According to The Life and Work of Konrad Zuse by Horst Zuse: In 1941, the Z3 contained almost all the features of a modern computer as defined by John von Neumann and his colleagues in 1946. The only exception was the ability to store the program in the memory together with the data. Konrad Zuse did not implement this feature in the Z3 because his 64-word memory was too small to support this mode of operation. Due to the fact that he wanted to calculate thousands of instructions in a meaningful order, he only used the memory to store values or numbers. The block structure of the Z3 is very similar to a modern computer. The Z3 consisted of separate units, such as a punch tape reader, control unit, floating-point arithmetic unit, and input/output devices.† Marriage and Family In 1945, Zuse married one of his employees, Gisela Ruth Brandes. They had five children: Horst, Klaus Peter, Monika, Hannelore Birgit, and Friedrich Zuse. The First Algorithmic Programming Language Zuse wrote the first algorithmic programming language in 1946. He called it Plankalkà ¼l and used it to program his computers. He wrote the worlds first chess-playing program using Plankalkà ¼l. The Plankalkà ¼l language included arrays and records and used a style of assignment- storing the value of an expression in a variable- in which the new value appears in the right column. An array is a collection of identically typed data items distinguished by their indices or subscripts,† such as  A[i,j,k], in which A is the array name and ​i, j, and k are the indices. Arrays are best when accessed in an unpredictable order. This is in contrast to lists, which are best when accessed sequentially. World War II Zuse was unable to convince the Nazi government to support his work for a computer based on electronic valves. The Germans thought they were close to winning the war and felt no need to support further research. The Z1 through Z3 models were shuttered, along with Zuse Apparatebau, the first computer company that Zuse formed in 1940. Zuse left for Zurich to finish his work on the Z4, which he smuggled from Germany in a military truck by hiding it in stables en route to Switzerland. He completed and installed the Z4 in the Applied Mathematics Division of Zurichs Federal Polytechnical Institute, where it remained in use until 1955.   The Z4 had a mechanical memory with a capacity of 1,024 words and several card readers. Zuse no longer had to use movie film to store programs since  he could now use punch cards. The Z4 had punches and various facilities to enable flexible programming, including address translation and conditional branching.   Zuse moved back to Germany in 1949 to form a second company called Zuse KG for the construction and marketing of his designs. Zuse rebuilt models of the Z3 in 1960 and the Z1 in 1984. Death and Legacy Konrad Zuse died on December 18, 1995, of a heart attack, in Hà ¼nfeld, Germany.  His innovations of fully working programmable calculators and a language to run it have established him as one of the innovators leading to the computing industry. Sources Dalakov, Georgi. Biography of Konrad Zuse. History of Computers.  1999.Zuse, Horst. Konrad Zuse- Biography. Konrad Zuse Homepage.  2013.Zuse, Konrad. The Computer, My Life. Trans. McKenna, Patricia and J. Andrew Ross. Heidelberg, Germany: Springer-Verlag, 1993.

Robot Lab Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Robot Lab Report - Essay Example To define more precisely, Robot is â€Å"a device that automatically performs complicated often repetitive tasks† (merriam-webster). The task is instructed to the robot in the form of programs using any programming language. Robot can either be guided using a remote control or can be made completely automatic by pre-defining the directions in the program thereby replacing the complete human interventions. One such application of automated robots would be in industries where these robots handle tasks like cutting, welding, packing and moving to the correct destinations and so on, thereby increasing productivity, safety and profitability. Though the initial cost of purchasing a robot is comparatively higher, the advantages they offer simply overwhelms them. As a part of our Robot study course, we have designed and programmed one such automated robot using Lego NXT, a programmable robotics kit from Lego. Lego NXT comes with a brick shaped device called NXT Intelligent Brick which forms the brain of the robot. This device can be thought of an intelligent micro computer that can be programmable with many compatible programming languages. It can operate with up to four sensors and up to three motors. It also comes with an in-built LCD display and necessary buttons to navigate the user interfaces using hierarchical menus and a speaker to play sound files. Simple programs can be developed using this menus and more complicated programs can be downloaded through USB or Bluetooth. Though it can be programmed with many compatible languages, we have chosen Lejos, a high level open source language based on Java, for programming the device. A step by step procedure on how we have developed the robot is summarized below: Sensor Calibration: â€Å"A sensor (also called detector) is a device that measures a physical quantity and converts it into a signal which can be read by an observer or by an instrument† (Wikipedia). Sensor is like an eye for the Robot, without which they are actually blind. A robot uses sensors for detecting what is happening around them so that they can respond or react to varying circumstances. In our design, we have used a simple ultrasonic sensor. This ultrasonic sensor is attached to the Lego NXT brick and series of measurement were taken in order to calibrate the sensor. The various factors involved in sensor calibration include sensitivity- the smallest change in input that will be detectable in the output, range- the minimum and maximum distances it a can measure, precision- the degree of reproducibility of a measurement i.e if the same value were measured a multiple of times, and good sensor would output exactly the same value every time, resolution- the smallest detectable incremental change of input parameter that can be measured in the output signal, accuracy- the maximum difference between the actual value (which can be measured by a ruler) and the indicated value at the output of the sensor, linearity- an ex pression of the extent to which the actual measured curve of a sensor departs from the ideal straight line and Hysteresis- the measure of capability of the sensor to follow the changes of the input parameter regardless of which direction the change is made. The measurement for each factor is recorded and the device is calibrated. Odometry and Dead Reckoning: Now that we have calibrated the sensor for the robot to recognize when to respond, the next step is to help the robot know